Always

17.1| dawn

AMARA

I've been meeting with Jake since our encounter outside the bank. We finally decided to cash up and spend a part of our savings to buy land. Today was the day we were going to check out the place. 

Right now, I was waiting for him to show up at the cafe we agreed to meet at. He was running late as usual. I tapped my foot impatiently and the pavement. We didn't have any time to waste. I was thinking about giving him a call, when someone grabbed both my shoulders from behind me.

Without skipping a beat, I turned around and punched whoever it was in the nose. Not even caring to look at the mystery person, I stomped on their foot with my stiletto. The person shrieked, and I figured it was a man. It was then when I realized who it was. 

"What the fuck woman!" Jake screamed, doubling over to touch his foot, while holding his nose with the other hand.

I rolled my eyes, then smirked. "Serves you right for scaring me. Especially after you're late again." I took hold of his wrist and dragged him to my car. "Come on, don't be a wimp. We have important things to do today." He groaned in response. With that, I looked at the address once more and drove off, hoping it was someplace good.

-------

I really had to stop thinking good, because whenever I do, it doesn't happen. The place was a dumpster. A literal dumpster. I sighed. "Seriously? This is the best place they've got? This is a wreck!" Jake exclaimed.

I looked around. The place was big, no doubt. But it was, as Jake said, a wreck. It looked like a garbage disposal mixed with a construction site with no ongoing work. Broken furniture, taken down construction cranes, metal scraps and bits, pieces of plastic everywhere and whatnot. 

But this was what we had to deal with. We had to turn this into my dream. I couldn't give up after being so close. There was enough space, it just needed a bit of a makeover. "We can still do this. We just need to get rid of this...stuff" I said.

"Besides, what other options do we have?" Jake sighed. "You're right."  

I took one last look around before saying, "Let's go back and plan everything. We gotta do this without wasting any more time, seeing his place will need some time to be functional." I headed back to my car. 

"You're the boss." Jake said. 

"That's right." I replied, to which he chuckled. We got in the car and headed back to my house. We had a lot of things to do, and not much time.

Shape

"Alright, we are here." I said as I got out of my car, followed by Jake. 

"I forgot how big this was..." Jake whispered. 

I laughed. "Then you're not ready to see it from inside." 

"You have brothers too, right?" He asked and then gulped. I rolled my eyes. "Yeah I do, but it's not like they'll eat you. The most they'll do is interrogate the heck out of you."

"Oh I absolutely love being interrogated by my friend/business partner's brothers." He said, his voice filled with sarcasm. "We can chit-chat later. Right now, let's go inside and get some work done." I said as I marched up the entrance stairs, pulling Jake along.

As soon as I went inside, I knew I was gonna get a good show. Ace, Romeo, Liam and Lucas were sitting there in the living room doing who knows what. As soon as I stepped inside, all of their heads snapped up. I smiled. 

"Hey." I waved, setting down some blueprints. Ace quickly pulled me into a hug, squeezing the life out of me. 

"Hey baby sis. Who's this?" He asked, glaring at Jake. 

"This is Jake. We studied together and now we're business partners." I told him, waving towards where Jake was practically shitting himself. 

"Is he the one who used to tease you in high school?" Liam asked, smirking.

"It was friendly banter, I did the same to him." 

Romeo glared at him. "How old are you?" He asked.

"Twenty-two." Jake replied quickly. 

Liam and Lucas' eyes narrowed at him. "What are your intentions with our sister?" They asked in unison. "I-" before he could speak though, Ace had him by the cuff. 

"I remember now. He's the one who made you cry in your junior year of prom." Jake's eyes widened. 

"Amara? I made you cry?" He asked. His eyes wide. 

"Yeah, but it was a long time ago, It's in the past." All the boys looked at him, analyzing him. Ace let his collar loose as he rushed towards me. 

Before anyone had a chance to reply, Genevieve and Luca came in. Both looked really worried. 

"Who are you?" She asked Jake. 

"I'm Jake, I'm 'mara's business partner." She looked at our hands and then narrowed her eyes. 

"I'm going to have to ask you to come back later." She replied as Luca went upstairs and called down the others. Jake nodded. 

"Yeah of course." He picked up his stuff, kissed my cheek and was out the door faster than I could blink. 

Genevieve never looked worried. This was bad.